“Baby Donato” in Abruzzo (Italy): From A Mother’s Veneration to Popular Devotion

The article considers a cult that developed and still thrives in a small Abruzzo town in the years between the two world wars. During these decades, the mummified body of a baby became the object of worship and devotional practices. The epileptic Baby Donato died and after few months his body was given to the Sanctuary of St Donatus in Celenza sul Trigno. St Donatus is the saint who protects epileptics and in Italian Catholicism is therefore the master of disease. The name Donato means ‘given’ and the ailment (epilepsy) is given by the saint to his subjects in exchange for being cured they give him devotion and gifts. In this case, the sick child’s mother embarked on a much greater initiative, and actually gave the saint the dead body of the sick child dead. Analyzing the cult of the mummified child in Abruzzo allows us to understand not only the establishment of an autonomous expression of popular religion, but also illustrates anthropological mechanisms that expand a simple mythical individual invention into a wider scenario. A devotion expands into a large-scale dimension when it satisfies the needs of the imagination of a large group, as is the case of Baby Donato. By exploring the reasons for the affirmation, persistence and local diffusion of devotional practices of this unique extra-liturgical worship, this article offers some general considerations of Catholicism and Southern Italy. Key words: Women, Catholicism, Italy, Disability, Epilepsy, Relics, Devotion

Francesco Marano, Fare a occhio. Antropologia della cucina in Basilicata, Matera, Altrimedia Edizioni, 2015, pp. 128

Book review of Francesco Marano, Fare a occhio. Antropologia della cucina in Basilicata, Matera, Altrimedia Edizioni, 2015, pp. 128.Recensione di Francesco Marano, Fare a occhio. Antropologia della cucina in Basilicata, Matera, Altrimedia Edizioni, 2015, pp. 128

A Basis for Socio-Economic Development?Participatory Inventories of Local Traditions

The construction of collective identity is a plural process. This analysis seeks to consider the peculiarities of the regional context observed, namely the Abruzzi. With the increase of the free time and the individual connectivity, many new rituals are instituted to realize fictions and new expressive items that refer to the past time and corroborate the stake-holders through theatral clothes. These commemorations of the local past time are certainly not fake, because are a popular production that is originated by the modern culture industry. Of course, these commemorations of the local past time are not even a copy, because there is not even the original, i.e. an authentic and closed culture, composed of inventoried and durable items. The inventories of traditional and popular culture should better define a vibrant culture and addressed to the local meanings. These new popular trends through appropriate training can be cultivated with responsibility and creativity to support a sustainable culture of the places, as indicated by the International Conventions for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO 2003). Una Base per lo Sviluppo Socio-Economico? Gli Inventari Partecipativi delle Tradizioni LocaliIl processo di costruzione dell’identità collettiva è plurale. Questa analisi cerca di considerare le particolarità del contesto regionale osservato, ovvero l’Abruzzo. Con l’aumento del tempo libero e della connettività individuale, si sono creati nuovi spazi espressivi che realizzano finzioni rituali riferite al passato e si basano sull’uso di costumi di scena. Queste rievocazioni non sono certo contraffazioni messe in circolo dalla moderna industria culturale: non esiste una copia, perché non esiste neppure l’originale, cioè una cultura autentica e chiusa, composta di elementi inventariabili e conservabili per sempre. Gli inventari della cultura tradizionale e popolare, infatti, definiscono una cultura viva e rivolta allo sviluppo locale. Le nuove tendenze dell’espressività popolare, attraverso idonei interventi di formazione, possono essere indotte all’uso più responsabile e creativo delle risorse locali e a sostenere una auspicabile cultura dei luoghi, come indicato dalle Convenzioni Internazionali per la Salvaguardia del Patrimonio Culturale Immateriale (UNESCO 2003).Parole Chiave: tradizioni popolari, Patrimonio Culturale Intangibile, sviluppo local

Alessandro Deiana, <em>Effetto folklore: Usi e significati della tradizione nella Sardegna contemporanea</em>, Roma, Aracne, 2017, pp. 256

Recensione di Alessandro Deiana, Effetto folklore: Usi e significati della tradizione nella Sardegna contemporanea, Roma, Aracne, 2017, pp. 256

Antonello Ciccozzi, 2013, Parola di scienza, Roma, DeriveApprodi, pp. 188

Book review of Antonello Ciccozzi, 2013, Parola di scienza, Roma, DeriveApprodi, pp. 188.Recensione di Antonello Ciccozzi, 2013, Parola di scienza, Roma, DeriveApprodi, pp. 188

Violenza e conflitto

articoli selezionati in base ad un international call sui concetti di conflitto e violenz

Debito e dono

The analysis of the concept of the gift implies the analysis of the concept of debt. In the context of our post-global age, an age in which the grands récits which Jean François Lyotard spoke about in the ‘70’s are anything but extinct and now simply hidden or inscribed in the language and order of our society, they work intensely to reify social relations, and it is debt that has taken on a primary role in the construction of the world